“I lived on campus,” says Mrs Elizabeth Nivet-McComie.
She is speaking, quite literally, of her time as Warden of Trinity Hall, one of The UWI St Augustine Campus’s Halls of Residence. But the Campus has been her home, even when she lived beyond its gates, for almost four decades.
“Betty”, as she is known among members of the campus community in their many departments and offices, is not only one of UWI St Augustine's longest serving members of staff, she was at the very heart of its operations, acting as Personal Assistant to several campus principals and advisor to others. This past May, she retired after 39 years at The UWI.
“I feel light as a feather,” she says in our interview over Zoom. “I am taking it easy. It’s been almost two years of working to get where we are now.”
These last two years have been in support of Campus Principal Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, a leader Mrs McComie praises for her “energy” and “ideas”.
“She has a vision for the campus, and she is someone who will really go for it,” she says. “What principals try to do is push very hard. They only have a five-year term.”
And Mrs McComie, probably more than anyone else on the campus, knows how principals approach their work with the time they have.
She started working at the St Augustine campus in the 1980s as the secretary for Mr Anthony Falloon, then Senior Assistant Registrar, Examinations. At the time, Prof George Maxwell Richards, fourth President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, was Campus Principal. He would be the only Campus Principal up to today that Mrs McComie did not serve directly.
She was the Personal Assistant to Emeritus Professor Compton Bourne, Dr Bhoendradatt Tewarie, and Emeritus Professor Clement Sankat. She served as administrative officer for Emeritus Professor Brian Copeland, and then Personal Assistant again to Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine.
As Personal Assistant you are at the centre of everything and have the responsibility to gather information for the Principal as required for meetings, visits by persons from all walks of life. It is delicate work, most times.
And one of her assets in doing the job – indeed one of the defining aspects of her character – is her ability to build relationships.
Her outlook is that forming friendships requires more than smiling and shaking hands; it demands integrity, too. “Your ‘yes’ has to mean ‘yes’. Your ‘no’ has to mean ‘no’. Don’t make promises you cannot keep. You have to sometimes say ‘I cannot help you here’.”
Mrs McComie’s position not only made her privy to the ideas of the campus’s leaders and their strategies to execute them, it also gave her a prime seat for the development of UWI St Augustine over several decades.
She characterises the campus in her earliest days there as “very much a colonial-type atmosphere”, a small community where everyone knew each other. “The [Office of the Campus Principal] was Principal Richard’s residence. He lived there. There were also senior academic staff living in homes on the campus.
“On any day,” she recalls, “you could see and hear the laughter of children playing in the yard.”
However, change would come soon. In the early 1990s, she joined the staff of Compton Bourne, who was then the Pro Vice-Chancellor of Planning and Programming. Their office was right across the street from the Office of the Campus Principal in the building that today is the headquarters for the Marketing and Communications Office (where UWI TODAY is produced).
Then, in 1996, Prof Bourne was appointed Campus Principal.
“We moved across the street,” she says.
She was there for the growth spurred by an Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)/ Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) funded infrastructure upgrade project that turned UWI St Augustine into a modern campus. She witnessed and took part in the work to develop the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in the early 2000s. This was a massive transformation in Caribbean tertiary-level education as medical training was previously carried out primarily at the UWI Mona campus in Jamaica.
Mrs McComie was a member of the team under Campus Principal Tewarie who had to navigate the enormous influx of students following the introduction of the Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (GATE) programme in 2004 and T&T’s strategy of encouraging the society to seek higher education.
She was on Campus Principal Sankat’s team as they went on an ambitious programme of capital works that transformed the campus through new buildings and public spaces for students and staff. And she was the Administrative Officer to Campus Principal Copeland during his thrust to develop UWI St Augustine’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, an important economic strategy for both the campus and T&T.
Mrs McComie makes sure to mention the short tenure of Bridget Brereton, Emerita Professor of History, as Campus Principal.
“She was asked to take up the mantle when Dr Tewarie stepped down. Even though she only accepted the post for six months, she was a full-fledged principal. Because there was still work going on with the IDB, she needed to have full authority to settle everything on behalf of the campus.”
And she was there as well for periods of major upheaval – most notably the massive worker’s strike in 1998 and student protests.
“It was very interesting, and a bit terrifying,” she recalls of the labour unrest. “We had to get to work at 6 am and leave after 6 pm to avoid any difficulties.”
Being so close to power, one might assume that her greatest memories of her time at St Augustine involved these grand institution-shaping events or the meetings with dignitaries such as the late Colin Powell, former US Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Surprisingly, it is her involvement with students that she recollects most fondly, in particular, her experiences as Warden to Trinity Hall from 2000 to 2004, and as the Campus Events Coordinator responsible for the annual graduation ceremonies. She held the latter role for over two decades until 2016.
“I think it’s the teacher in me,” she says of her love for students.
Growing up on Jerningham Avenue in Belmont, one of four children, Mrs McComie went to work at a relatively young age, starting with assisting as English teacher to Spanish-speaking children of the Ambassador of Venezuela at that time, at the Andrés Bello private school (named after the Venezuelan humanist and diplomat), and the St Catherine’s private primary school in Port-of-Spain.
“We weren’t poor, but we weren't rich. I enjoyed languages. I enjoyed teaching,” she says of those early years.
Her strength and interest in languages led her to work for international agencies such as the OAS, IADB. IICA, UNDP-ECLAC, which she did for eight years. During this time as well, she got married and had her son. Soon after, she would start at The UWI St Augustine.
Events seemed a natural addition to her work. A big part of her job was arranging the campus principal’s meetings with people. Arranging events is the same, but on a larger scale.
One of Mrs McComie’s significant life experiences was as Head of the 50th Anniversary Celebrations of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (CBTT) in 2013-2015.
“It was a tremendous honour to be asked to take up this significant milestone for the CBTT,” she says. “I felt proud to be asked and happy to be a member of The UWI St Augustine campus. Hard work and dedication does have its benefits.”
Mrs Nivet-McComie (right), at the opening of the Eric Williams Memorial Collection at UWI St Augustine, on March 22, 1998. From left are Campus Principal Compton Bourne, Prime Minister Basdeo Panday, owner and curator of the collection Erica Williams-Connell, and United States Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Graduation was especially significant. In the old days, graduation ceremonies were held outdoors at the JFK Quadrangle, but with the influx of students, new arrangements had to be made.
“We had to revamp the whole graduation,” she recalls. “Graduation gives students the feeling that they belong. We really made the effort to give them a special experience.”
The campus’s signature event was moved to The UWI Sport and Physical Education Centre [established in 2003].
Although the coordination of special events like graduation is now the responsibility of the Marketing and Communications Office, Mrs McComie played an irreplaceable role in the evolution of the ceremonies and other activities that bring the campus community and visitors together.
In fact, hosting events was so important to her that she completed the Events Management programme provided by the University of Georgetown, Washington D.C. through the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business in 2003. Through her work with SPEC, she was motivated to do the UWI/FIFA/CIES Diploma in Sports Management.
At 58 years of age, she pursued a Master’s degree in Business Administration (Tourism and Hospitality Management) with the Australian Institute of Business (AIB).
Professional advancement was very important to her. Mrs McComie was a member of non-academic staff, a group made up of hundreds that are essential to the functioning of UWI St Augustine.
“When you don’t have a degree, you can sometimes feel unimportant,” she says.
And although there has been improvement in advancement opportunities and recognition for non-academic staffers, she believes more needs to be done. In fact, she sees improving relations with them as part of the more pressing issue of staff morale.
“We need to build morale,” she says. “Despite everything, people do their work to the best of their ability, but I would love to see people come together again.”
She is very pleased that Prof Antoine has made the happiness of staff one of her priorities.
“[Principal Antoine] meets with staff. The other day she held a meeting with retirees. She is working hard to build morale,” says Mrs McComie.
For Betty, while she will not say the job has been easy, she still relishes the lifetime of experience.
“I loved what I did. I enjoyed what I did. I learned people. I learned to understand the system, and how I could help people, both staff and students. Not everything was great. But it was all part of the whole. It made me stronger”
She adds, “my heartfelt thanks to all the people I have encountered over the past 39 years. You all left indelible pieces in my heart. My journey at The University of the West Indies has come to an end. Onto new adventures will the love and kindness of my colleagues. God Bless you all.”
